Megliola: Two much Bautista as Blue Jays top Red Sox

Neither the Red Sox fans nor their first-place heroes thought Jose Bautista’s act was very funny. Bautista, for the second time this season, had a two-homer game here as Toronto stopped Boston’s four-game win streak, 6-2 before a sellout (remember those things?) 37,437.

By Lenny Megliola/Special to the News

Milford Daily News

By Lenny Megliola/Special to the News

Posted Jun. 30, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 30, 2013 at 4:26 AM

By Lenny Megliola/Special to the News

Posted Jun. 30, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 30, 2013 at 4:26 AM

BOSTON

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A good number of Blue Jays fans found their way to Fenway Park for this four-game series against the Red Sox. They didn’t have much to cheer about in the first two, both Red Sox wins.

Saturday, they kept the faith, chanting "Let’s go Blue Jays" with such gusto that Red Sox fans had to go high up the vocal scale to drown them out. Back and forth they went, and only one would get the last laugh.

Neither the Red Sox fans nor their first-place heroes thought Jose Bautista’s act was very funny. Bautista, for the second time this season, had a two-homer game here as Toronto stopped Boston’s four-game win streak, 6-2 before a sellout (remember those things?) 37,437.

John Farrell knows how good Bautista is. Now he’s on the other side. Junichi Tazawa was on the bad end of Bautista’s second homer in the eighth, a two-run shot that broke a 2-2 tie. "It was a 2-1 split that drifted back to the plate," said Farrell. In other words, piece of cake for the slugger who has 18 homers.

Thing is, Bautista tormented the Red Sox in the field too; his throw from right field nailed Shane Victorino at the plate in the sixth inning, protecting the Jays’ 2-0 lead.

Victorino had opened the inning with a double and tried to score on Dustin Pedroia’s single to right. Had Victorino been held up, the Red Sox would have had runners at first and third, no outs and David Ortiz coming up. Big Papi singled, but Esmil Rogers struck out Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava. The inning of promise had burned out quickly.

Victorino was waved in by the usually flawless third base coach Brian Butterfield.

"I’ll take the hit for this one," said Butterfield, who worked with Farrell in Toronto.

"I’ll never question him," said Farrell. "It was a 260-feet strike to cut Victorino down. (Bautista’s) a very good player."

"It was a great throw," said Victorino, "but we want to stay aggressive." So he wasn’t surprised Bautista’s throw beat him home? "I’m never surprised. He’s got a great arm. He’s a great player. He’s hit a lot of home runs."

Bautisa’s bases-empty blast in the second inning cleared the Green Monster and put Toronto up 2-0 in the sixth inning off starter Felix Doubront. The lefty otherwise turned in a very commendable performance — 6 1/3 innings, five hits, two runs.

"Another solid outing by Felix," said Farrell.

The Red Sox had their chances. They had two runners thrown out at the plate — Jarrod Saltalamacchia was the other victim, on a failed safety squeeze in the seventh. The bunt was put down by Johnathan Diaz, playing in his first big-league game after eight seasons in the minors.

Page 2 of 2 - "Johnny’s a good bunter," said Farrell, who knew a little about Diaz because he’d been in the Blue Jays organization. "It’s a do-or-die play."

Diaz is 28 and was only up from Pawtucket because Stephen Drew (hamstring) was out of the lineup, Jose Iglesias had moved to shortstop and third baseman Will Middlebrooks wasn’t eligible to return from the Triple-A affiliate because he hadn’t been there 10 days yet.

Diaz, a career .228 lifetime hitter, went 0-3. Napoli had a worse day, striking out four times, and making his fifth error at first base. Farrell said Napoli was "working on some consistency." It’s been hard to come by lately for the power hitter.

The Blue Jays can now get a series split Sunday. Those Toronto fans will be back raising a ruckus again. Sox fans just hope that Bautista gets a migraine.